Bi-Weekly Book Reviews for Ambitious Achievers

Why Should I Read | The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

Who was the third person to fly across the Atlantic? You know the answer.

But before I remind you, Al Ries and Jack Trout have written a book with one of the most pretentious titles I have ever seen.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!

Quite the proposition, but several of their laws are devastatingly accurate. While their examples are dated (I read the 1993 edition) it’s almost more fun that way to examine their predictions in light of 23 years of marketing between publishing and today’s reality.

So who was the third person to fly across the Atlantic? You’re practically dying to know.

You may know that the first man to fly across the Atlantic was Charles Lindberg on May 20, 1927. You may even remember that his plane was called “The Spirit of St. Louis.” But you’re wracking your brain to try and think of who this third person was.

Well, SHE happened to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart.

Ok, this is Amy Adams, but she plays a great Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum 2!

This is where marketing happens.

Let me explain.

Ries and Trout say that our minds stick on the first in any category, they call this the Law of Leadership. This means that for instance, Redbull will probably always have a big portion of the energy drink market, because it was the first in people’s mind. Their second law, the Law of Category, is that you can always be first if you create a new category. That’s what’s going on with Amelia Earhart.

This book has 22 laws like these for you to digest. Personally, I disagree with their worldview that marketing actually changes truth. They say that there is no objective truth, that all truth is merely perception and that since perception is influenced by marketing, then marketing changes truth. This is quite the postmodern view, and I reject their conclusion. However, perception is real, and one would be hard pressed to argue that marketing doesn’t influence people.

You’ll also be hard pressed to read this book and not find a way to apply it to your business or life. If nothing else, I enjoyed it for fun nostalgia of the early nineties and to judge their predictions.

One has to take some of their “laws” with a grain of salt because according to the “Law of Line Expansion,” Microsoft is mere years away (in 1993) from failing as a company because they keep expanding their product lines.

I recommend this book with a caveat. Note the qualifications of the authors and the fact that this book is recommended by people like Tim Ferriss and Ryan Holiday. But remember, not all of the predictions they’ve made played out in that way in the real world. Don’t blithely follow a map that doesn’t accurately portray the territory.

Your personal reader, I’ll test the books in this series for you!

Jon DeLange is the owner of Jumpsix Marketing Grand Rapids and Director of Development at Lakeshore Pregnancy Center. Find him reviewing books on YouTube as "Why Should I Read That." Visit jondelange.com to keep in touch!